- China: Regime denies reports it gave Iran intel before deadly strike on US base in Jordan
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Beijing rejects ‘groundless’ reports that Chinese entities supplied Tehran with satellite images of a military base housing US troops in Jordan, before and after an Iranian strike killed three American soldiers. The reports by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend related to July 17 missile strikes launched by Iran on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Unnamed American officials cited in the Journal’s reporting did not name the Chinese entities involved, and did not suggest that Beijing was directly to blame.” (09/14/26)
- Ex-CIA Director John Brennan issued subpoena in Trump “grand conspiracy” investigation
Source: SFGate
“Former CIA Director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify next month before a Florida grand jury as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against President Donald Trump, one of his lawyers said Monday. Ken Wainstein, an attorney for Brennan, disclosed in a court filing that prosecutors last Thursday presented him with a subpoena for Brennan to appear Oct. 15 before a grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida. He said he was told that the subpoena relates to a “far-reaching” criminal probe examining a loosely defined theory that the government officials who have investigated Trump over the last decade, including over Russia election interference in 2016 and his more recent retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, conspired to deprive Trump of his civil rights. The subpoena to Brennan is among a flurry that have been issued in recent weeks.” (09/14/26)
- Philippines: Muslim enclave votes for parliament after deadly shooting
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Polls closed on Monday across an autonomous Muslim region of the Philippines that waited decades to choose its own leaders, with officials praising a successful election despite sporadic violence. The parliamentary election was the culmination of a sometimes-bumpy peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country’s far south. More than two million voters were eligible to vote for 80 parliament seats that had previously been filled by appointees. … Gunfire erupted outside a polling station at a Cotabato school before polls opened, killing three people and wounding 15 others.” (09/14/26)
- NY: Mamdani, James sue to block Trump regime from refusing immigrants over welfare status
Source: Fox News
“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over plans to expand federal authority to deny visa and green card applications based on welfare status. The lawsuit, filed jointly with NY Attorney General Letitia James, targets the Trump administration’s plan to expand the ‘public charge’ rule, which allows the federal government to deny visa applications based on the likelihood that the applicant will receive public benefits. Trump’s administration seeks to expand the list of benefits that apply under the rule, with the change taking effect Sept. 18. ‘If you are a citizen, or an individual seeking humanitarian relief like asylum, these changes will not affect you,’ Mamdani said at a press conference Monday. ‘The new public charge rule not only sweeps aside more than a century of established law, it is intentionally vague as a means of creating uncertainty and fear to isolate immigrant New Yorkers.'” (09/14/26)
- AI stocks slide after major CEOs unite to urge slowdown
Source: CNBC
“Artificial intelligence stocks dropped on Monday after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown of the development of AI capabilities, and other major tech figures backed the proposal. Investors are concerned that an industry-wide slowdown in AI development could have ripple effects for companies across the sector and curb adoption. Chipmaking and hardware stock heavily tied to the AI buildout dropped on Monday. … The sell-off comes amid the growing debate over the risks posed by rapidly improving AI model capabilities that hit a crescendo last week after Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic who also previously worked at OpenAI, said he resigned out of concern that Anthropic and OpenAI are ‘gambling with our lives.'” (09/14/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/14/ai-stocks-slowdown-amodei-altman.html
- TX: Landowners sue to block Trump border wall plans in remote Big Bend region
Source: SFGate
“Landowners, ranchers and business owners in the Big Bend region of Texas along with a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the region’s landscape and heritage are suing to stop the Trump administration’s plans to build a wall and other border infrastructure through the remote section of the state. The lawsuit, filed by Conserve Big Bend and with the support of dozens of landowners, comes as the administration is ramping up a $46 billion effort to line the roughly 2,000-mile southern border with a collection of 30-foot (9-meter) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology intended to keep out smugglers and migrants. In Texas, the effort has run up against numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners.” (09/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/texas-landowners-sue-to-block-trump-border-wall-22431123.php
- Brazil: Supreme Court justice unseals probe into Bolsonaro biopic, citing suspected criminal funding
Source: ABC News
“A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Sunday unsealed an investigation into the production of a film about former President Jair Bolsonaro, pointing in his decision to suspicions the movie’s financing had ties to a criminal network. The suspicions laid out in Justice Flávio Dino’s decision may complicate matters further for Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, only weeks before October’s national elections in which he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Sen. Bolsonaro, the ex-leader’s eldest son, is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion for receiving millions of dollars from a disgraced banker to finance the biopic about his father, titled ‘Dark Horse.'” (09/14/26)
- Buckingham Palace works uncover trove of everyday items dating back to 1800s
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A pair of battered, hobnailed boots and a decades-old newspaper cutting are among a trove of everyday objects unearthed during restoration work at Buckingham Palace. The misplaced items are thought to belong to staff who worked at the palace decades ago, and were found by workers carrying out the £369m refurbishment. A ticket for ‘a whist drive’ (a card game event hosted by the Palace on 14 April 1949) was found embedded in a lump of brick. Several betting slips, a bottle of Schweppes Still Malvern English Spring Water, an empty Silk Cut cigarette carton and a newspaper article about the gang jailed for the 1963 Great Train Robbery were also found under floorboards.” (09/14/26)
- Amazon halts operations with cargo carrier 21 Air after Miami crash
Source: United Press International
“The e-commerce giant Amazon announced Sunday that it was suspending operations with the U.S. cargo air carrier that operated Flight 7598, which crashed after landing at Miami International Airport last week, killing five people. ‘Safety has always been our top priority, whether in our operations or when we’re working with partners,’ Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. … 21 Air said it was focused on aiding those affected by the crash and working with federal investigators and Amazon amid the investigation.” (09/14/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/13/Amazon-suspends-service-21-Air-after-crash/7781789355724/
- NH: Ex-youth detention center counselor faces sex assault trial
Source: SFGate
“A sexual assault trial starts Monday for a New Hampshire man whose arrest more than seven years ago kicked off one of the biggest youth detention scandals in U.S. history. Former youth counselor Jeffrey Buskey, 60, of Litchfield, faces allegations involving four boys held at the Youth Development Center in Manchester in the late 1990s. In the first of his cases to go to trial, he is charged with 21 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault involving David Meehan, who was 14 when he arrived at the facility now called the Sununu Youth Services Center in 1995. Meehan filed the first of more than 1,100 lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse spanning six decades. His allegations led to the arrest of Buskey and another former worker in 2019, an unprecedented criminal investigation, nine additional arrests, and the establishment of a settlement fund to compensate victims.” (09/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/ex-youth-detention-center-counselor-faces-sex-22430980.php
- Israel: Pol threatens to revoke filmmakers’ citizenship over Gaza film
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar has said that he will move to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their documentary on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, NAZA, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. In an X post on Sunday, Zohar called the documentary ‘vile’ and its win at the film festival ‘shocking’. He accused the filmmakers of harming the country ‘just to get applause from antisemites around the world’. The minister said that Abraham and Szor’s actions ‘constitute treason against the state’. … The 80-minute film documented Israel’s use of AI-powered systems to commit ‘calculated mass killings’ of Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Venice Film Festival’s official synopsis. The documentary received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere during the film festival.” (09/14/26)
- Yemen: Houthis Seize More Key Islands in Southern Red Sea
Source: US News & World Report
“Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels [sic] captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, government and Houthi officials said Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route. The capture of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish came as [Saudi puppet regime] forces attempted to rally over the weekend and fight back after the rebels’ [sic] swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis’ new gains further enable them to threaten Saudi crude oil shipments, which have used the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking shipping.” (09/14/26)
- Canada: Carney eyes “unique alliance” with EU as trade war with US intensifies
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada is seeking a ‘unique alliance’ with the European Union (EU) but not membership of the bloc, as its trade war with the US intensifies. … the Wall Street Journal reported that EU officials were open to a suggestion from Carney that Canada could become an ‘associate member’ of the bloc, according to officials from both sides. Carney instructed his special envoy to Europe to ‘scope out the most ambitious possibilities short of full membership’, the paper reported. … Since taking office, Carney has promoted a strategy aimed at creating a ‘more independent, more resilient economy’, in the wake of increasingly hostile policy towards his country from the Trump administration.” (09/14/26)
- Russian drone hits train near Ukraine-Poland border soon after visiting dignitaries passed through
Source: Associated Press
“A Russian drone struck a train near the Ukraine- Poland border on Sunday shortly after senior visiting officials — including the former prime ministers of the U.K. and Sweden — passed through, Ukraine’s state rail operator said. According to Ukrzaliznytsia, a diplomatic train carrying Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and security advisers from several European Union states had purposely left the station at Yahodyn ahead of schedule. The visitors were on their way back from a security conference in Kyiv. ‘It is highly probable that the Russian drone ’s intended target was in fact the diplomatic train, which had departed the station earlier than scheduled,’ the company said in a Telegram post.” (09/13/26)
- Talks between Iranian, Gulf regimes on Strait of Hormuz postponed
Source: Yahoo! News
“Talks between Iran and several Gulf states on the disputed Strait of Hormuz have been postponed, Oman said on Sunday. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said Monday’s meeting had been postponed ‘in the interest of consensus.’ ‘We remain committed to fostering dialogue that supports stability and lasting cooperation in our region,’ he wrote on X. He did not announce a new date or elaborate on the reason for the postponement. … Tehran and Muscat have been negotiating for weeks on a mechanism to regulate shipping traffic through the strait, a key waterway for the global oil, gas and fertilizer trade. For Iran’s leadership, the Strait of Hormuz has become an important means of leverage in its conflict with the United States.” (09/13/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/talks-between-iran-gulf-states-233336982.html
- PA: Woman dies from measles complications, state’s third death this year
Source: NBC News
“A 40-year-old woman has died from measles complications in Pennsylvania, marking the state’s third measles-associated death this year as the U.S. experiences its worst resurgence of the highly contagious disease in 35 years. The woman, a Jefferson County resident, died Saturday, county Coroner Greg Furlong said on Facebook. … At least 676 measles cases have been confirmed in 37 counties in Pennsylvania so far this year, the state’s health officials reported Friday. The outbreak has hospitalized 124 people in the state. Of the confirmed cases, fewer than 1% had been fully vaccinated, Pennsylvania health officials said.” (09/13/260
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pennsylvania-woman-dies-measles-rcna597490
- Indonesia: Six dead, 130 missing after ferry sinks in Java Sea
Source: ABC News [Australian state media]
“Indonesian rescuers say about 130 passengers and crew are missing after a ferry carrying more than 240 people sank in bad weather in the Java Sea. At least 113 people were rescued, and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded in waters around the vessel’s last known position. The Indonesian passenger ship carrying 243 people was reported missing after losing contact early on Sunday during bad weather. … Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key mode of transportation, with sea routes more affordable and readily available than air travel. However, safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high accident rate.” (09/13/26)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-13/search-underway-for-indonesian-passenger-ship/107148298
- Judge boots Trump ‘loyalty’ question from civil service job applications
Source: Washington Times
“A federal judge issued a stay forbidding the administration from asking those seeking jobs in the federal government to say how they would help carry out presidential executive orders, in what some saw as a test of ‘loyalty’ to President Trump. U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., a Clinton appointee to the court in Massachusetts, sided with labor unions that argued asking the question was an unconstitutional politicization of federal jobs. The question, the third in a series of four essay questions, was added to the hiring process last year in response to a Trump executive order. It asked applicants to say how they would advance such orders and to name one or two in particular. ‘The plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that Question Three is neither related to an important government interest nor narrowly tailored to promote that interest,’ the judge wrote.” (09/12/26)
- Canada: Boycott of US products pushes grocers to adapt, explore new supply sources
Source: Reuters
“A growing consumer push to buy Canadian and boycott U.S. products is reshaping supermarket shelves in Canada, forcing grocers to improve country-of-origin labeling and secure new sources of supply. In Ontario, the president of independent grocer Vince’s Market, Giancarlo Trimarchi, turned to Facebook to show customers that most produce on the shelves of his stores is Canadian after receiving angry emails and comments about the grocer stocking U.S. produce. A bitter trade war between the United States and Canada has made consumers more conscious of where their dollars go. ‘Buy Canadian’ movements started last year after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods. They have intensified in recent weeks after trade talks broke down and Trump signed an executive order to change the name of to Lake America.” (09/12/26)
- Ireland: Trump predicts British occupation of the Six Counties will end “eventually”
Source: The Hill
“President Trump on Saturday expressed optimism about the reunification of Ireland during a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin. The president, who is visiting his Irish golf course this weekend for a major golf tournament, said he would ‘love’ to see the joining of the Republic of Ireland and the [UK-occupied Six Counties]. … Previous U.S. presidents have typically avoided directly commenting on this contentious issue.” (09/12/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6085955-trump-ireland-reunification-comments/
- Forgotten Civilizational Code
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“A mosaic is made of broken things. So is a civilization worth rebuilding. Recently, I found an out-of-print book by an author who is clearly a torchbearer. It struck me that his three spheres illuminated something fundamental. His name was Spencer Heath, and in 1957 he published Citadel, Market and Altar. Heath’s civilization comprises three primary spheres. 1. Citadel is the sphere of protection, where what is vital is secured and defended. 2. Market is a sphere of cooperation where we serve each other in reciprocity and mutual benefit. 3. Altar is the sphere of consecration, where art, philosophy, and divinity express our higher-order aspirations. From a sufficient altitude, we can view underthrow through these spheres.” (09/14/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/forgotten-civilizational-code
- No Good Reason Why Poverty Should Still Exist
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The other day I saw another great example of the way people in capitalist societies tend to reframe their dumb luck as the result of their own hard work and resourcefulness. At the end of the last season of the surivalist competition Alone Australia, the winner Trent Felton was asked if he felt he’d just gotten lucky catching dozens of fish while all the other contestants starved, and he insisted that his success was actually due to the fact that he had made the wise decision to work hard obtaining food. ‘My strategy when I went out there was food,’ said Felton. ‘I’ve been a big fan of the show for a long time, and I’ve never really seen anyone leave ‘cause their shelter’s not quite up to scratch or anything like that, so from day one priority for me was food.'” (09/12/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/11/theres-no-good-reason-why-poverty-should-still-exist/
- Liberty Unlicensed
Source: Law & Liberty
by Thomas Vozar“Kohn Milton’s Areopagitica reveals the poet’s commitment to freedom as the pursuit of virtue and truth.” (09/14/26)
- How Congress Empowered Presidential War-Making After 9/11
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer“Americans live in a perpetual state of war. Although Congress has not formally declared war since 1942, U.S. presidents have repeatedly deployed troops overseas based on United Nations resolutions, congressional authorizations, or their own executive power—as President Donald Trump has in Iran. But the power that presidents possess in matters of national security is not the product of an inevitable expansion of the executive authority. Congress builds the imperial presidency one step at a time. At key moments in U.S. history and in response to international threats, Congress has made deliberate decisions that have resulted in presidents being allowed to deploy troops and assert executive power over civil liberties. One of the most consequential moments came in the aftermath of the horrific attacks of 9/11.” (09/14/26)
- Moving Soon? Here Are 10 Modern Conveniences That Will Make It Easier.
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola“For much of human history, moving house has been a death-defying ordeal. When pioneer Loren Hastings reached Portland, Oregon, in 1847, he looked back on the Oregon Trail and called it a ‘graveyard.’ Today, you can pack up everything you own and move anywhere in the country without risking life and limb. Convenience has made nomads of us all, turning a tedious and life-threatening experience into one that requires minimal time and effort. It does not matter whether you live in a Texas Hill Country ranch house or in a 500-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the click-and-tap world of same-day delivery made possible by capitalism, it has never been easier to pull up stakes and move to new digs.” (for publication 10/26)
- Fury at Fetterman refutes Democrats’ claim to be “big tent” party
Source: New York Post
by staff“Ronald Reagan famously said that he didn’t leave the Democrats, the Democrats left him — and now the party threatens to do the same to Sen. John Fetterman. The Pennsylvanian’s video appearance at the Republican midterm convention, praising GOP colleague Dave McCormick as a bipartisan ally as they ‘work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life’, drove his critics around the bend. The left loathes Fetterman even though he votes with his caucus most of the time, and stands by policies central to the Democratic identity … at least until 15 minutes ago … simply because he refuses to go along with the lunacy he calls an ‘orgy of socialism’.” (09/14/26)
- China to the Rescue? Why Only Beijing May Be Able To End the Iran War
Source: Antiwar.com
by Trita Parsi“If you’ve followed my interviews, you know I’ve been warning about the high likelihood of a third round of the war – one that would almost certainly be far more intense than the previous two. I’ve also argued that, given Trump’s erroneous reading of the current balance, perhaps the only diplomatic wildcard that could pull us back from this looming disaster is Beijing deciding to step in and force a settlement. I discussed precisely this with Glenn Diesen on his show just yesterday. Hours later, President Xi Jinping declared China’s willingness to use its diplomatic clout to help end the war.” (09/14/26)
- What Is Worth Learning in an AI World?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jennie Jones“I spent my whole day today trying to save a $200 Chromebook. When I think about the hourly rate, it really wasn’t the best use of my time. School starts in less than a week, and I had many other things on my to-do list. But alas, Gemini made me feel like I could solve it, so I kept troubleshooting, and before I knew it, it was 5:00. This is an ironic pattern I have noticed lately as I use chatbots more and more for work. It makes me feel like I can do anything. Things I wouldn’t have ever considered even attempting (read: most tech-related projects), I suddenly feel like trying because there is no harm in asking. And when it works, it does feel so good. ‘I did it myself!’ I cry out like a small child learning to tie her shoes. But there have been a few times now where I realized that just because ChatGPT makes me feel like I could doesn’t always mean that I should.” (09/14/26)
https://fee.org/articles/what-is-worth-learning-in-an-ai-world/
- How Trump’s Iran operation turned into a forever war
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Harrison Berger“With few good options available, the US has left little hope for peace in the Middle East any time soon.” (09/14/260
- Trump: An Instrument of the Age
Source: Common Dreams
by John Ripton“Donald Trump is an instrument of this age, a force propelling capitalism and the global economy into a critical stage of their historical development. Since the beginning of village life some 10,000 years ago, commerce among villages and rural economies intensified as cities emerged and over centuries forged trade networks across regions into a global system of commerce. At the same time, from the beginning of markets, traders, merchants, industries, and governments engaged in the struggle for control of local, regional, and inter-regional markets. Today this struggle continues, but now with devastating consequences: the concentration of wealth on a global scale; the vast productive power and technological innovation; the multiplying flow of market-related information, and the explosive potential of artificial intelligence. Each of these factors is channeling private and public resources to elites, and spurring worldwide trade wars, technological dependency, and military confrontations that threaten humanity’s survival.” (09/14/26)
- The Reality of Republican Socialism
Source: Libertaran Institute
by Thomas Eddlem“For all the Republican fear-mongering over Democratic Party socialism, the Democrats have had a non-existent record of getting their much-touted socialist schemes enacted; even when President Barack Obama had an electoral mandate for a ‘public option’ on health care and a majority in both the U.S. House and Senate, Democrats couldn’t get it passed. But President Donald Trump’s copying of China’s ‘golden share’ concept via executive order by taking shares in private companies is, unfortunately, a much more real, damaging, and sustainable form of socialism.” (09/14/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-reality-of-republican-socialism
- We have to understand the effect of AI on jobs correctly
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“There was a time when 80% of the nation was involved in growing the food to feed 100% of the nation. Something it achieved patchily, in some years didn’t achieve. Then came the tractor – a catchall for the reaping machine, combine, tractor, seed drill and on – plus ocean going steamships to transport food and on again. We currently use some 2% of the labour of the nation to feed 100% of the nation. That 78% of the nation’s labour is not involved in the production nor maintenance of tractors. Sure, sure, tractors produced new jobs for mechanics and drivers and so on. But that’s not what made us richer. … Rather, it’s the freeing of labour from that now automated task which allows other things to be done.” (09/14/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/we-have-to-understand-the-effect-of-ai-on-jobs-correctly
- Trump May Indeed be the Worst President in American History and Maybe That’s Not All Bad
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“[I]s the Donald in fact the worst president in American history? He certainly seems to be breaking his back trying but there is some very stiff competition, and I’m not convinced that the majority of the navel gazing wonk class are using the proper criteria for judgement. When too many people talk about the worst president in American history, the focus always seems to veer heavily towards dysfunction and scandal. Nixon ransacking the Oval Office like a feral werepig gagging on a fist full of ludes while J. Edna lines up the dudes …. But all of this cracked reasoning negates the simple fact that what we seem to be asking for here is what amounts to a functional conductor for a killing machine.” (09/13/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/09/trump-may-indeed-be-worst-president-in.html
- The Dangerous Evolution of Gavin Newsom
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wants you to know that he is evolving. Newsom is facing a rising radical movement among Democrats, including a surging contingent aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. He is struggling in polls and therefore eager to show the skill identified by Darwin that allows certain species to thrive in their environment: adaptation. Newsom has recently declared capitalism a failure. He is now joining his competitors for president in offering up the Supreme Court and its independence to the far left. His free fall into rage politics is a cautionary tale for those who want to return the Democratic Party to more centrist positions. Often called a ‘political chameleon’, Newsom seems to be morphing into the actual species that evolved to adjust to its environment, including more nimble feet.” (09/14/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/09/14/the-dangerous-evolution-of-gavin-newsom/
- Why Banning Artificial Superintelligence Fails and Strict Liability Succeeds
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“A government ban here in America would do nothing to keep AI Superintelligence from advancing; it will continue to advance, just not as much here in the U.S. It would progress in other countries or here in America, but underground. Sanders’ Act would help other countries like China to advance with us out of the way. Handing AI Superintelligence into the hands of government bureaucrats is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve heard in a while coming out of D.C. or Vermont. We do not need a centralized, unaccountable government superpower in control of all this information. We need strict, real-world legal liability, property rights, and contract enforcement rather than preemptive federal licensing.” (09/13/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/why-banning-artificial-superintelligence
- How MAGA Bewildered Voters Into Its Alternate Reality
Source: The Bulwark
by Sarah Longwell“When I was coming up in the conservative movement, one of the hallmarks of Republican grievance was the belief that the ‘mainstream media’ was controlled by liberals and had a systemic bias against conservatives. The political and cultural right responded to this imbalance by building an industry designed to reduce public trust in mainstream media—hammering the ‘liberal bias’ narrative relentlessly. But they didn’t stop there. They also built an entire competing media ecosystem. And they had a roughly fifteen-year head start on doing it. By the time Trump arrived in 2015, the infrastructure was already firmly in place.” (09/13/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-maga-bewildered-voters-into-its-alternate-reality
- The Liberal Economy: The Car Without an Engine Goes to the Mechanic
Source: Liberal Currents
by Maia Mindel“The main criticism of liberalism is that liberals lack a theory of power. Liberalism sees itself as the enjoyment of a life of peaceable private cultivation absent the onus of public duty. The critique is that the private and civic life of individuals is also profoundly shaped by values and economic relations. Liberalism is seen as not able to formalize the relationship between wealth, power, and culture. This point was best made by one of liberalism’s most prominent, and dare I say most insightful, critics: the Nazi jurist and political thinker Carl Schmitt. His ideas, largely for the worse, are currently very influential on liberalism’s opponents.” (09/13/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-liberal-economy-the-car-without-an-engine-goes-to-the-mechanic/
- The New Majority Makers
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen“‘My name is Randy Villegas, and I’m for Medicare for All.’ That was how Villegas, a 31-year-old Democratic candidate for Congress, opened a health care town hall in late August for close to 100 residents, most of them Latino. He was speaking at Salon Juarez, a dance hall that hosts quinceañeras and weddings in a historic section of Bakersfield known as Old Town Kern. Preceding him on stage was Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), the progressive House member who is flirting with filling the left lane in the 2028 presidential race. Sandy Reding, a president of the California Nurses Association (CNA), one of America’s most left-wing unions, spoke before Khanna. The Working Families Party, which supports progressive populists across the country, had a table along one side. You wouldn’t know that this is one of America’s most hotly contested swing seats.” (09/14/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/09/14/oct-2026-the-new-majority-makers/
- Medicine Has Forgotten How to Touch the Patient
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon“When was the last time your doctor actually examined you? I do not mean when someone checked your blood pressure, copied your medication list, looked at your laboratory results, or listened briefly through a shirt before returning to the computer. I mean examined you. Looked at you. Watched you breathe. Felt your pulse. Looked at your eyes. Examined your neck. Listened carefully to your heart and lungs. Palpated your abdomen. Watched you walk. Noticed the color of your skin, the movement of your hands, the expression on your face, and the thousand other small pieces of information that a human body offers to someone who has learned how to observe it. For most of the history of medicine, this was not an optional ritual performed before ordering the ‘real tests.’ This was medicine. Today, increasingly, it is treated as something quaint, inefficient, or unnecessary.” (09/13/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/medicine-has-forgotten-how-to-touch-the-patient/
- Trial By Jury: In Praise of the Lone Holdout
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“American law recognizes the right of a jury to acquit a defendant ‘in the teeth of the facts.’ We call it ‘jury nullification’: The jury decides that even though the defendant did X, the law forbidding X is wrong, at least in that case. Prosecutors hate that because they prefer convictions at any cost. Judges hate it, because they like to be in charge and don’t think anyone should be free to ignore their ‘instructions.’ The lone juror in the Clancy case is a flip side of jury nullification. He decided, based on the evidence he’d seen and the testimony he’d heard, that she was guilty, and he wasn’t going to let himself get bullied into saying otherwise. The effect isn’t as broad as acquittal — the prosecutor is free to bring the case again — but it’s the same principle. Jurors get to vote their conclusions and their conscience. Period. That’s important.” (09/13/26)
https://knappster.blogspot.com/2026/09/garrison-center-op-ed-trial-by-jury-in.html
- You Don’t Have “2nd Amendment Rights.” You Just Have Rights.
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin“Millions of people today refer to their rights by amendment number, as if they get them from the Bill of Rights. They talk about their ‘2nd Amendment rights,’ but they have it completely backwards. The founders didn’t write the words as a permission slip for the people. They aren’t a ‘gun permit.’ They are a restraining order for government: hands off our natural rights. There is no clearer restraining order than the 2nd Amendment. It doesn’t grant a right. It recognizes one that already exists, and issues a direct command to government.” (09/12/260
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/09/12/you-dont-have-2nd-amendment-rights-you-just-have-rights/
- Politicians See Opportunity in Data Center Panic
Source: Reason
by Steven Greenhut“Politicians generally operate within their partisan bubbles, as they stake out poll-tested positions that conform to the political lean of their districts and the priorities of their party. Once in a while, though, an issue so upsets the public that it transcends partisanship. Then all bets are off, as lawmakers try desperately to placate those proverbial ‘peasants with pitchforks.’ The latest example involves the construction of data centers. Voters, and hence politicians on the political left and right, are incensed about the construction of large facilities that house computers, networking equipment, servers, and storage systems that support the tech economy and the growth in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It’s hard to understand the level of upset given that these facilities are necessary to power industries that power our economy and fund state budgets.” (09/11/26)
https://reason.com/2026/09/11/politicians-see-opportunity-in-data-center-panic/
- President Trump’s new strategy on the Iran war: Pretending there isn’t one
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by the editorial board“During a recent cable news appearance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed no American lives had been lost in the Iran war, an error he blamed on confusion with President Donald Trump’s earlier invasion of Venezuela. And perhaps it is difficult to keep one’s wars straight in an administration that has attacked seven countries in less than two years. But while Lutnick’s claim was horribly wrong in fact, it was an accurate reflection of the administration’s consistently reprehensible diminishment of the costly war it started more than six months ago without congressional authorization or public support. The day after the secretary’s gaffe, Vice President JD Vance denied the very existence of the conflict, telling reporters, ‘I wouldn’t call it a war’ …. The day after that, Trump himself dismissed the war as ‘small potatoes’…” (09/13/26)
- How much more embarrassment can the Republican Party take?
Source: USA Today
by Rex Huppke“If you’re a sane Republican – and yes, I do believe such people exist – the past week had to be monumentally embarrassing. President Donald Trump, who’s terrible at pretending to be a conservative, tried to bribe U.S. voters by saying every adult would receive a $5,000 ‘Trump Dividend’ if Republicans win the midterm elections. If it weren’t a complete con, that would cost about $1.3 trillion at a time when the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion. So much for fiscal conservatism. The president made the embarrassing kickback offer Sept. 9 during an equally embarrassing Republican midterm convention that centered around idolatry of Trump. At the event in Dallas, he implored GOP voters: ‘Pretend that I am on the ballot.’ Does that make you feel good if you’re a Republican?” (09/13/26)
- Fighting the Oligarchy’s Stranglehold on the Media
Source: The Progressive
by Victor Pickard“The Trump 2.0 era has intensified a deeply entrenched pathology in the American media system: concentrated corporate ownership. During less perilous times, legitimate concerns about a few corporations capturing so much of our news and information have often been dismissed as conspiracy theories and paranoia. But Donald Trump and his coterie of plutocrats have made our media oligarchy problem acutely evident and impossible to ignore. Constant controversies, from government and corporate censorship of television comedians like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert to the algorithmic and editorial abuses of Elon Musk’s X and Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post, remind us why media ownership holds such high stakes for any semblance of democracy. Meanwhile, rightwing nepotistic dynasties like the Murdochs and the Ellisons hold inordinate influence over what millions of people can see, hear, and read in their daily media.” (09/11/26)
https://progressive.org/magazine/how-to-fight-media-oligarchy-pickard-20260904/
- Can ‘America First’ survive Trump’s war-first presidency?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Blaise Malley“In a Thursday address at the GOP midterm convention that exalted President Donald Trump and demeaned his opponents as ‘extremists who openly hate our nation,’ Vice President JD Vance hardly spoke about foreign policy. He did not mention the war in Iran directly, and he only brought up foreign policy as an example of an issue that divides the party’s base. He urged voters not to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ because ‘you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there.’ The acknowledgement of foreign policy as a divisive issue in the MAGA coalition is a stark retreat for Vance, who staked his 2023 endorsement of Trump on the fact that ‘he started no wars despite enormous pressure from his own party and even members of his own administration,’ framing the president’s America First record as a much-needed deviation from decades of bipartisan hawkishness.” (09/11/26)
- Osama Bin Laden Won
Source: The Intercept
by Nick Turse“Bin Laden’s plan was to trap the U.S. in expensive, foreign quagmire wars that would trigger a domestic economic collapse. It was patterned on the strategy that the local mujahideen, he and other foreign fighters, and the U.S. and its allies had used to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Not only does bin Laden’s strategy continue apace long after his 2011 death, but it also spawned an even more effective means of destroying America from within. Bin Laden’s attacks turned the U.S. government into an engine for the destruction of America, inducing it to implement policies that have devastated the country and immiserated its people.” (09/11/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/09/11/bin-laden-september-11-trump-america/
- No, We’re Not Having The “It’s Not Genocide” Conversation Anymore
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“It’s so undignified how Zionists keep trying to resurrect the ‘stop calling it a genocide’ conversation about Gaza when every relevant human rights group on earth says that’s exactly what it is. The latest effort to revive this long-dead debate comes in the form of a letter signed by 5,000 high-profile Israel supporters like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Zionist megadonor Haim Saban, and neoconservative war criminal Elliott Abrams. ‘We the undersigned are outraged and sickened by the latest blood libel to be inflicted on the Jewish people: the lie that Israel committed ‘genocide’ in Gaza. We reject this accusation with contempt,’ the letter says, followed by the usual mountains of hasbara verbiage.” (09/12/26)
- Unfair Gains?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“After another summer of heatwaves and wildfires, Spain is petitioning the EU to create a climate adaptation fund. In a letter sent to the EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, the Spanish minister for the ecological transition Sara Aagesen Muñoz said that Europe needs a blanket strategy to help its member states cope with climate change, and to mobilize the ‘resources needed to deliver the necessary investments.’ The mobilizing strategy favored by Muñoz is a permanent windfall tax on energy companies, many of which have cashed in on higher gas and oil prices resulting from the wars in Ukraine and Iran. … The fairness of windfall taxes, of course, is one of the most questionable things about them. As the Portuguese finance ministry said when introducing its windfall levy, the elevated profits of oil and gas providers this year have resulted ‘solely from external market conditions.’ So why punish them?” (09/11/26)
- Applying liberal arts learning in a changing world
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“New and returning students have been flocking to college campuses across the United States this month. And, at several institutions – such as Brandeis University, just outside Boston – they are encountering a higher education reinvention that’s rapidly picking up pace: the concept of ‘applied’ humanities or interdisciplinary and skills-focused liberal arts learning. For Brandeis and similar institutions, changing demographics (fewer college-age students overall) and budget shortfalls are an immediate impetus for this shift. But underlying such pragmatic considerations is also a growing willingness within higher education to better align with the needs of a changing society and economy. And that signals both humility and introspection – qualities integral to the humanities, which prize curiosity and the willingness to change and expand thinking and reasoning. ‘Higher ed shouldn’t be an ivory tower concept,’ according to Sonya Christian, chancellor of the California Community Colleges system, the nation’s largest.” (09/11/26)
- In Defense of the Insanity Defense and the Lindsey Clancy Jury
Source: StephanKinsella.com
by Stephan Kinsella“Many on the right think the near-acquittal is an indictment of women or of feminism, even though two of the three male jurors also favored acquittal. As I see it, there are several problems with the take by the right and some libertarians here. First, from the fact that Clancy killed her children, they conclude that it’s obvious she should be found guilty and imprisoned for life. This shows no awareness of the complex nature of criminal trials.” (09/12/26)
https://stephankinsella.com/2026/09/in-defense-of-the-insanity-defense-and-the-lindsey-clancy-jury/
- Mirrors of 9/11
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu“To many Americans, al-Qaeda’s brutality seemed to represent both a wake-up call and a challenge. Because they are used to sitting atop the geopolitical hierarchy, Americans don’t necessarily think all that much about what lies beneath. It turns out that the rest of the world hates us, or so many concluded in the wake of 9/11. From that ostensible insight flowed the challenge: Are they right to hate us? Have we whiffed on our global leadership? Are we the tyrannical oppressors of our age? Across the intervening years, those questions have played out in the American consciousness like a bruising taunt heard in childhood that one can never quite forget.” (09/11/26)
- “Never Forget” Is Bad Spiritual Advice
Source: Common Dreams
by Yahia Lababidi“‘The well-prepared heart has hope during adversity and fear during prosperity’ — Erica McAlpine … Twenty-five years, and the day keeps getting bigger instead of smaller. Three thousand dead in a single morning, then some multiple of that across the wars launched in its wake, then a shifting count out of Gaza that outpaces anyone’s will to keep totaling it. I did not expect grief to go on collecting interest this long. I did not expect to still be bitter, on a date this rehearsed, in a country this practiced at looking away. I have written some version of this before. On some earlier September, I posted this: ‘#NeverForget is bad spiritual advice. Especially, when one has exacted revenge that far exceeds initial loss. To spell it out, honor your dead but remember, too, the 100,000+ Iraqi civilian noncombatants murdered in a vengeful, unjust ‘war’.'” (09/12/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/never-forget-bad-advice
- Was 9/11 a New Pearl Harbor?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“By now, the evidence overwhelmingly establishes that President Franklin Roosevelt wanted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to take place. He desperately wanted to intervene in the war against Nazi Germany, but he faced a virtually insurmountable obstacle — the American people, most of whom firmly opposed U.S. entry into a second world war. … It would be difficult to say that U.S. officials wanted the 9/11 attacks to happen, given that there is no evidence to support it. But there is also no doubt that U.S. officials persisted in a course of action that they knew was likely to produce a massive terrorist attack on American soil.” (09/11/26)
- Will Trump Accounts Make Every Kid a Millionaire?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller“The $1,000 seed can grow substantially, but seven-figure wealth requires decades of compounding, continued contributions, and strong market returns.” (09/11/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/will-trump-accounts-make-every-kid-a-millionaire/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 09/14/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Voters Have Nowhere To Go This Fall.” (09/14/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 09/14/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Is This the End of American Empire? Iran, Israel, & the New Middle East w/ Wahid Azal.” (09/14/26)
- EconTalk, 09/14/26
Source: EconTalk
“Incentives Are for Losers (with Adam Mastroianni).” (09/14/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/incentives-are-for-losers-with-adam-mastroianni/
- Zooming In, 09/14/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Liberals Need to Loosen Up to Play the Social Media Game Against Authoritarians: A Conversation with Renée DiResta.” (09/14/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberals-need-to-loosen-up-to-play
- Antiwar News with Dave Decamp, 09/13/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Suggests US-Ansar Allah Truce Still in Effect, Iranian Ship Comes Under Attack, and More.” (09/13/26)
- The Inner Life of Liberalism, episode 5
Source: The Inner Life of Liberalism
“Practice Theory with Theodore Schatzki.” (09/12/26)
- Scott Horton on The Kyle Anzalone Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Bush says America didn’t overreact after 9/11. We don’t let that pass. Kyle Anzalone sits down with Scott Horton to walk through what Washington knew before the attacks, what it chose to ignore, and how a moment that demanded focused justice became an open-ended Global War on Terror.” (09/13/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 356
Source: Unattended Baggage
“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and AI feels fine.” (09/12/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-356-its-the-end-of-the-world
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 09/12/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Judicial Committee Decision: LPNH Disaffiliation AFFIRMED (Moulton Opinion).” (09/12/26)
- Free Talk Live, 09/12/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Jay discusses giving kids a head start in life by keeping them off of tablets and teaching them skills :: Dave Ridley came out with an audiobook :: Caller lost use of legs after meth-related car accident and gained a new meaning for his life :: 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center caused by the FBI :: TSA and Flock have killed the fourth amendment :: Correcting your citizenship status to take your rights back from the feds :: Lindsay Clancy, should her drs be accountable? :: Jury rights and red flag laws :: Just asking questions about the Holocaust :: Riley got 5% of the vote in his state rep run :: SignalTrace, new business like Flock :: Green language the language of synchronicity :: They don’t listen to the constitution anyway :: VT has fewer people than NH but more homeless :: 2026-09-12 Hosts: Bonnie, Jay Noone, Riley O’Bill.” (09/12/26)
- Serious Trouble, 09/11/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“A Massachusetts judge could not cajole the Lindsay Clancy jury into a verdict; an ICE agent faces federal charges for lying about a shooting; Kyrsten Sinema faces trial for stealing a man.” (09/11/26)
- The Good Fight, 09/12/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Judith Dada on the Rise of the AfD.” (09/12/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/11/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Tailspins as His New Plot to Rig Midterms Is Mocked Even on Fox.” (09/11/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/215305/trump-tailspins-new-plot-rig-midterms-mocked-even-fox
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 09/11/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Why Understanding Inflation Is Deliberately Difficult: With Guest Economist Phillip Patrick.” (09/11/26)
- The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 09/11/26
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Azam Ahmed On The Aftermath Of 9/11.” (09/11/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/azam-ahmed-on-the-aftermath-of-911
- Reasonably Optimistic, 09/11/26
Source: Washington Post
“This medieval revolt has a warning for today.” (09/11/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/this-medieval-revolt-has-a-warning-for-today/
- Nonzero, 09/11/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The Week in AI that Changed the World | Robert Wright & Liron Shapira.” (09/11/26)
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 686
Source: Freakonomics
“Why Is It So Hard to Find an NFL Quarterback?” (09/11/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-it-so-hard-to-find-an-nfl-quarterback/
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 09/11/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Deep Cover, Shallow Graves w/ Ralph Pezullo.” (09/11/26)
- Soho Forum Debate: Are We Winning the Trade Wars?
Source: Reason
“Economists Stephen Moore and Scott Lincicome debate tariffs as a foreign policy tool.” (09/11/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/09/11/are-we-winning-the-trade-wars/